This article focuses on the use of computer-mediated communication (CMC) during
the wars of the Yugoslav succession, through three case studies of particular
eMail networks, discussion groups and bulletin boards: zamir;
APC/Yugo/Antiwar; and the Soc/Culture/Croatia and
Soc/Culture/Yugoslavia newsgroups. The text addresses the
relationship between ‘real’ and ‘virtual’ communities and looks, in particular,
at the role of eMail as a tool for social, political and cultural change.
Despite the rhetoric of CMC as an inherently liberating and democratising
medium, the suggestion is that power relations remain crucial in understanding
all of the case studies. eMail may be most effective when part of a local
discourse and practice of social change. The article concludes with a
consideration of the link between different kinds of trust, or social capital,
within the eMail world.
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